Days off and off days

I work at a job where I get time off in hours-sounds complicated and maybe it is, but not not to me. For every two weeks, I work (80 hours) I get a day (8 hours) off. Around Thanksgiving, I and my boss realized I was heading towards a 'use or lose' situation so I've been on vacation since Thursday and will remain so until Tuesday, 6 January. Despite all this 'free time', I'll still 'lose' something on the order of 80 hours of vacation time as one year transitions into the next one.

I hate going on vacation--I very much define myself by what I do, so days off are like being in limbo or on hold. I'm not actually 'doing' anything so I'm not being anyone. To compound matters, I've picked up a cold that's actually bronchitis and has made my day a bit more unpleasant than sitting around and doing nothing normally does.

We had snow yesterday afternoon and I had just gotten the snow blower repaired so my timing is better than usual (assuming the repair holds). I suspect I'll have short entries for a while since between the cold medications and the mind-numbing lethargy of sitting on the couch, I'm having trouble focusing much less concentrating.
-bill kenny